W-1 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,472 / month
San Francisco$5,472
Fort Carson$2,448
Fort Worth$2,442
Cleveland$2,439
Hampton$2,436
Grand Rapids$2,421
Chattanooga$2,418
Salem$2,418
College Station$2,412
Durham$2,409
Youngstown$1,350
Grand Rapids is #159 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,122 a month —
$49,464 a year, untaxed.
Every pay grade at Grand Rapids0 – $2,988 / month
E-1$1,950
E-2$1,950
E-3$1,950
E-4$1,950
E-5$2,148
E-6$2,403
E-7$2,424
E-8$2,433
E-9$2,517
W-1$2,421
W-2$2,430
W-3$2,442
W-4$2,547
W-5$2,688
O-1E$2,427
O-2E$2,436
O-3E$2,571
O-1$2,184
O-2$2,400
O-3$2,439
O-4$2,730
O-5$2,946
O-6$2,970
O-7$2,988
Promoting to W-2 here adds $9 a
month. The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.
01
Where you are stationed outweighs what you are paid. Moving from Grand Rapids to San Francisco at W-1 is worth $3,051 a month — about 339 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $9 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 28% here. That is a status your finance office determines, not a box you tick — and it is the single largest lever on this page that is not a change of address.
03
None of it is taxed. $2,421 a month of BAH takes more than $2,421 of basic pay to match, which is why comparing a civilian salary against military base pay alone understates the gap.
Ad slot — in-content, after the answerPlaced below the number, never above it. VA-loan and PCS-move advertisers bid here.
Things the rate table doesn't tell you
01
“With dependents” is a dependency status, not a marital status. A single member paying child support can be authorized BAH-Diff; a married dual-military couple with no children is not automatically the with-dependents rate for both. If your situation is unusual, your finance office decides — not this table.
02
O-8, O-9 and O-10 draw the same BAH as O-7. The table stops there for a reason, not because it is missing rows.
03
This is CONUS BAH only. Overseas is OHA, which works differently — it reimburses actual rent up to a cap, with separate utility and move-in allowances. Alaska and Hawaii are BAH; Germany, Japan and Korea are OHA.